Trump Pushes for GOP Platform Draft That Softens Stance on Abortion
Donald J. Trump told officials Monday that he is backing a draft of a new Republican Party platform that would reflect the presumptive nominee’s new position on abortion rights and refine policies across all areas of government.
The draft platform, as described to The New York Times by people familiar with the matter, confirms Trump’s ideological takeover of the GOP. It is even more nationalist, protectionist and less socially conservative than the 2016 Republican platform that was copied in the 2020 election.
Trump has had the bill in his possession for several days and called a meeting of party officials on Monday where he said he supports it.
The abortion section has been softened. There is no longer a reference to “traditional marriage” as between “one man and one woman.” And there is no longer an emphasis on reducing the national debt, only a brief sentence about “cutting wasteful government spending.” The rest of the document reflects Trump’s priorities as outlined on his campaign website: a tough immigration policy, including mass deportations; a protectionist trade policy with new tariffs on most imports; and sections on using federal power to purge supposedly left-wing ideas from academia, the military, and anywhere else they can be found in the U.S. government.
Mr. Trump and his top advisers have alienated some activists by shutting them out of the platform’s development. The former president has been particularly focused on softening language on abortion — the issue he sees as his greatest vulnerability in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The section on protecting human life has been significantly watered down in the 2024 draft platform. In the 2016 and 2020 platforms, that section contained extensive specifics about what the Republican Party would do to restrict abortions, including supporting a federal ban on abortions after 20 weeks. It stated that “the unborn child has a fundamental right to life that cannot be violated.”
The 2024 draft platform, as described to The Times, is called “America First: A Return to Common Sense,” and it softens that abortion language and shifts the issue from one of conscience to one best handled by the states. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law, and that the states are therefore free to enact laws protecting these rights,” the draft platform reads.
The document makes no mention of a federal abortion ban, which Trump opposes, he says. Instead, the new platform emphasizes that Republicans oppose “late-term abortion” and stresses that the party supports “access to birth control and IVF (fertility treatments).”
The new platform language also reaffirms Mr. Trump’s position on Medicare and Social Security as the Republican Party’s position, saying that Mr. Trump “will not cut a dime” from either program. In contrast, the 2016 platform stated, “We reject the old maxim that Social Security is the ‘Third Rail’ of American politics” and that “all options must be considered to preserve Social Security.”
The platform seems explicitly focused on winning in 2024 rather than laying out a broader vision for the Republican Party. The first two chapters are devoted to the issues Mr. Trump wants to make central to this race: inflation and immigration.
The platform committee meets Monday in Milwaukee, ahead of the full convention next week. The committee must vote on the new language. If the committee approves it, the platform will go to a full vote next week.
